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Matthias Pfeffer<\/a> is the founder and Managing Director of the Council for European Public Space<\/a> (CfEPS), a non-governmental think-tank advocating for an independent European public sphere and digital infrastructure. CfEPS pushes for the development of common digital platforms and technologies that prioritize democratic values over economic gain. Matthias is a television journalist and producer. Among other positions, he was Managing Director and Editor-in-chief of Focus TV in Germany for 20 years. He studied philosophy and worked as a war reporter. Together with Paul Nemitz, he authored the book The Human Imperative, Power, Freedom and Democracy in the Age of AI<\/a> <\/em>(Ethics Press, 2023). He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Bergamo in 2022, and has been a Lecturer at the Technical University of Munich since 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Could you give us a brief overview of the activities of the Council for European Public Space?<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong> Matthias Pfeffer is the founder and Managing Director of the Council for European Public Space (CfEPS), a non-governmental think-tank advocating for an independent European public sphere and digital infrastructure. CfEPS pushes for the development of common digital platforms and technologies that prioritize democratic values over economic gain. Matthias is a television journalist and producer. Among other positions, he was Managing…Continue reading<\/span>Matthias Pfeffer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-practitioners-corner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1081,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions\/1081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iapmr.media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The CfEPS is committed to creating a European public sphere that can be trusted by the citizens. Access to reliable information and a communication space in which fact-based, free opinion-forming can take place are basic prerequisites for any democracy. Digital public spheres have been subject to devastating disruption in recent years due to new technologies and an unchecked concentration process, but there are also ways to use digitalization for the benefit of democracy. For example, language barriers can be overcome through real-time translation, creating the conditions for a common European public sphere to emerge for the first time in history. We are committed to this opportunity.
What role do you see for public service media in creating a European public space?<\/em>
PSMs have the task of informing, educating and entertaining citizens in an independent and truth-orientated manner. In the age of digital disinformation and AI, these tasks are more relevant than ever. If public service broadcasters recognize the opportunities offered by the new technologies, for example to overcome language and cultural barriers, they can make a decisive contribution to safeguarding democracy and bringing Europe together. This is more important than ever in the current threat situation.
Can you think of any successful initiatives in creating European public spaces so far?<\/em>
There has been a whole series of pilot projects dedicated to aspects of a cross-border European public sphere. In the past four years alone, the EU has funded such projects to the tune of 200 million Euro. In addition, the European Parliament’s research centre, the\u00a0STOA<\/a>, has already commissioned\u00a0two reports<\/a>\u00a0that prove the feasibility of a European streaming platform for news. Now is the time to make such a platform available to citizens very quickly on this basis. We are currently fighting for this in the EU Parliament and the Commission.
What do you see as the main challenges for building a European digital ecosystem?<\/em>
The future of democracy will be decided in the digital space, because it is here where citizens inform themselves and form their opinions. Europe, like the governments of the member states, must recognize that a legally compliant digital policy is a prerequisite for the existence of democracy itself. We need the political will to design and realize our own digital infrastructure that serves European values and laws, instead of continuing to push both out further and further, as has been the case up to now. Only if this political will is developed and a European digital policy is consistently developed, from infrastructure to hardware, software and services, will a sovereign Europe have a future.
The new Trump administration has already brought worrying implications in terms of the behaviour of global digital platforms. Is there (still) a chance for European actors to challenge the power of US platforms, and if so, what would it take?<\/em>
As already mentioned, a clear political will is needed not to become a colony of the USA and China in the key future fields of digitalization and artificial intelligence. At present, almost 90 per cent of Europe’s “Euro stack” is controlled by these actors. The Americans have now made it very clear that they intend to exploit Europe’s dependence, including to blackmail Europe. A wake-up call couldn’t be louder than JD Vance’s speech in Munich. Those who don’t act decisively now are giving up themselves. We therefore need the willingness not to succumb to this blackmail. Our democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Europe are not up for negotiation. Europe is not a disorderly real estate market and is not prepared to use its values as a pawn in dealmaking, but will consistently defend them. To do this, however, Europe must also present a united front, which is far from being the case today. A shared European public would help us to achieve the necessary unity and capacity for action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"